8 Voyager 1 Headed into Interstellar Space 旅行者1号进入星际空间

仔细听

Space scientists recently announced that Voyager 1 is the first spacecraft to reach interstellar space—the space between stars.The spacecraft carries the voices and sounds of human beings and animals that were living on Earth in 1977 when it was launched.The sounds are on a gold-plated phonograph record secured to the side of the spacecraft.

航天学家最近宣布，旅行者1号是第一艘抵达星际空间的航天器。航天器携带着自1977年发射以来的居住在地球上的人与动物的声音。所有声音都收录在固定于航天器侧面的一张镀金唱片里。

听力破解：播音员重读了voices and sounds，表明强调航天器里携带的到底是何物品。

词汇宝典：launch意为“发射”，如：launch the satellite（发射卫星）。日常英语中，launch 也表示“发动”，如：Workers plan to launch the strike to have a pay rise.工人计划发动罢工来提高工资。launch也可表示“开始，启动”，如：Researchers had launched the programme.研究者已经启动这个项目了。

仔细听

Tim Ferris mixed the audio that went on the record.

“The record is a conventional long-playing phonograph record except that it is made of copper and it is covered in gold and then it is put inside a titanium case to protect it.”

提姆·费里斯合成了这张唱片的音效。

“这是一张传统的可长时间播放的留声机唱片，只不过它由铜制成，并且在表面镀了一层金，然后被放在一个钛合金的盒子里保护起来。”

词汇宝典：case在这里是“容器，盒子”的意思，还可构成其他合成词，如：bookcase（书架，书柜）；briefcase（公文包，手提包）；pillowcase（枕套；showcase（玻璃柜台，陈列橱）等。

仔细听

Tim Ferris was one of a small group of people who worked to persuade the American space agency to attach the record to Voyager's side.

Annie Druyan，another member of the group says the original idea came from Frank Drake，an astronomer at the University of California.

提姆·费里斯所在的小组好不容易才说服美国航空局，将唱片固定到了旅行者1号中。

小组的另一成员安妮·德鲁杨说，来自加利福尼亚大学的天文学家弗兰克·德雷克是最早提出这个想法的人。

听力破解：这里出现三个人名，但播音员稍重读的只有Frank Drake，表明他才是这个想法的发起者，听时可留意一下。

仔细听

“And it seemed to Frank that the best way to compress as much information as possible in a very small space was to do it on a phono-graph record.”

And there's plenty of information on the record，it contains messages in 59 human languages.

“在弗兰克看来，能将尽可能多的信息压缩到一个非常小的空间之内的最好方法就是使用留声机唱片。”

唱片涵盖了非常多的信息，它包含了人类的59种语言的消息。

听力破解：播音员不仅重读了as much information as possible，还重读了a very small space，突出强调了在非常小的空间内压缩极可能多的信息。

词汇宝典：compress意为“压缩，压紧”，做动词时，可表示压缩气体，如：compress the air（压缩空气；或者压缩时间），再如：The three classes will be compressed into two hours.这三节课会被压缩至两小时。也可表示压缩或者精炼语言、思想等，如：Can you compress all your thoughts into a15-minutes presentation？你能把你的全部想法精练到一段15分钟的小展示中吗？

仔细听It has 118 pictures of life on Earth，and 27 pieces of music.Tim Ferris says these demonstrate the diversity of human creation.

“So there is music on the record from Europe and the United States...But also from Africa，the South Pacific and South America...Georgia，Russia，all these places—such as China，India.”

唱片还有118张地球生物的照片，以及27首音乐。提姆·费里斯认为，这些信息可以证实人类的多样性。

“唱片里有来自欧洲和美国的音乐。……当然，也有非洲、南太平洋、南美……格鲁吉亚、俄罗斯，以及中国、印度的音乐。”

词汇宝典：on Earth表示“生活在地球上”，但如果是on earth，则多用来表示“究竟，到底”。如：

A：Why on earth are you late again？你到底为什么又迟到了？

B：I'm so sorry.But the traffic today is rather terrible.十分抱歉。今天交通状况实在太糟糕了。

学着说一说

1.persuade to说服

▶persuade to 表示“说服，劝服，劝说”。如：

A：Ann still wants to quit university.Can you persuade her not to do that？安还是想辍学。你能劝说她别这么做吗？

B：OK，I'll try.But she might not listen.

好吧，我试试。但她未必会听我的。

2.as much information as possible尽可能多的信息

▶日常英语中，常用 as...as possible 表示“尽可能”，如：

I'll finish the book as soon as possible.我会尽快看完这本书的。

I want to learn from our teacher as much as possible.

我想尽可能多地从老师身上学到知识。

3.demonstrate the diversity证实多样性

▶demonstrate 是“证明，证实”的意思，如：

A：You have to demonstrate you're not lying.你需要证明你没有说谎。

B：Fine！ I'll find some evidence.好吧！ 我会找到证据的。